Montreal-based health drinks company Liquid Nutrition Group Inc. makes its debut on the TSX Venture Exchange Wednesday, setting its sights on the fast-expanding juice bar business.

The franchise sells so-called “functional beverages” — fresh juices enhanced with supplements aimed at helping people recover quickly after a workout and hearty ones that can be consumed in lieu of a meal such as breakfast.

The company has seven stores in Quebec and aims to open 350 throughout North America over the next five years.

The first phase of its franchised stores is expected to open in Toronto and Los Angeles.

President Glenn Young said the company is well-positioned to face competition, such as the Canadian franchise chain Booster Juice, which has 235 Canadian outlets and is expanding in the United States and several international markets.

Jamba Juice, the juice-bar giant in the United States, also announced this month that it wants to open 80 Canadian outlets beginning later this year.

Mr. Young says Liquid Nutrition, which will trade under the ticker LQD, offers something different. Many juice chains which use real fruit to blend juices or smoothies include refined sugars, ice cream, or yogurt, and sell “something that really is a healthy alternative to a dessert,” he says.

Liquid Nutrition’s drinks consist of fruit and ice, boosted with protein powder or supplements. “We are very much about functional beverages — there is hydration and rehydration, but it is also about [offering] protein, recovery [from exercise], building muscle.” While Liquid Nutrition also sells wraps and salads, functional beverages account for 70% of its gross revenue.

The company was started by a pair of athletic brothers who wanted to target fitness buffs with a lineup of juices and smoothies that contained no added or refined sugars. Its two stores were bought by Gildan Activewear co-founder Greg Chamandy, an avid customer, in 2007. Mr. Chamandy enlisted Mr. Young, former vice-president of IMG Media Canada, to run the business and tap into his sports world connections to market the brand around an all-star roster of major athletes.

The main face of Liquid Nutrition is marquee investor and spokesman Steve Nash, the Victoria-raised Phoenix Suns point guard and two-time National Basketball Association MVP. “I think it is excellent to be able to provide people with healthy alternatives to fast food,” said Mr. Nash in a recent interview with the Financial Post. “Something that’s very important to me is living a healthy lifestyle and being able to reach my goals, and nutrition is a huge component of my life in order to be successful.” New York Yankee and Quebecer Russell Martin is also a spokesman, and four more top athletes signing on to promote the brand will be given equity stakes in lieu of promotional fees.

“So many other brands have done it,” Mr. Young said of the branding strategy. “Gatorade and Vitaminwater has done it successfully, though [the latter] was more on the celebrity side. It grew very quickly and sold to Coca Cola for $7-billion dollars. [The athletes’] involvement is more than putting them in front of the brand. I suspect some of them might open [franchises] or partner with someone to franchise in a business they can be passionate about. For me this is less about being a [quick-serve restaurant] opportunity and more about being a business opportunity in a market segment that is quickly growing into a very visible one within the marketplace.”

Functional drinks are a budding category ­— so much so that big players in the refined sugary drink business are keen to get in on it. Indra Nooyi, chief executive of Pepsico Inc., told The New Yorker earlier this month that the beverage and snack food giant wants to grow its “good for you” business to $30-billion in sales by 2020 from $10-billion today. Pepsi owns the drink brands SoBe Lifewater, the juice and smoothie line Naked, and sports drink Gatorade.

“The fact that we have lived in this category for six to seven years positions us well,” Mr. Young. “It gives us authority in the marketplace as we expand.”